Assessment and Redevelopment of the Community Safety Officer Role in Victoria and Associated Retraining. A 30-month action-research project spearheaded by the Department of Criminology, to reassess and redirect the Justice Department's "Safer Communities" strategy. This sophisticated strategy has experienced extensive program drift, and key objectives and outcomes must be redefined. Research aims include: assessing the roles of the State's thirty-two Community Safety Officers; reviewing and revi ....Assessment and Redevelopment of the Community Safety Officer Role in Victoria and Associated Retraining. A 30-month action-research project spearheaded by the Department of Criminology, to reassess and redirect the Justice Department's "Safer Communities" strategy. This sophisticated strategy has experienced extensive program drift, and key objectives and outcomes must be redefined. Research aims include: assessing the roles of the State's thirty-two Community Safety Officers; reviewing and revising job descriptions, activity profiles, skill requirements and supervisory structures; and retraining relevant personnel. Outcomes will be independently assessed. Crime prevention and safety strategies are being implemented in most Western countries, and similar problems are being experienced. Hence the project is of national and international significance.Read moreRead less
Accessing the family violence provision: enhancing migrant women’s safety. This project aims to investigate the operation of the Family Violence Provision (Migration Regulations (Clth) 1994), designed to act as a safety net for women on temporary visas whose relationships break down due to family violence. The project expects to generate new knowledge about awareness and application processes and outcomes. Using a multi-method approach this will be the first study to examine the operation of the ....Accessing the family violence provision: enhancing migrant women’s safety. This project aims to investigate the operation of the Family Violence Provision (Migration Regulations (Clth) 1994), designed to act as a safety net for women on temporary visas whose relationships break down due to family violence. The project expects to generate new knowledge about awareness and application processes and outcomes. Using a multi-method approach this will be the first study to examine the operation of the Provision. The outcomes will offer direct benefit to the Partner Organisations, and to national stakeholders providing support to migrant women. The project is expected to strengthen support for women who have experienced family violence for whom this provision was designed. Read moreRead less
The police role in victim and witness support: researching a best practice model. The experience of victims and witnesses is instrumental in building public confidence in the criminal justice system. Negative experiences with the agencies of criminal justice reduce not only the likelihood that individuals will engage in future, but also the likelihood of their friends and families doing so. The experience of victims and witnesses is therefore central to the creation of an inclusive and participa ....The police role in victim and witness support: researching a best practice model. The experience of victims and witnesses is instrumental in building public confidence in the criminal justice system. Negative experiences with the agencies of criminal justice reduce not only the likelihood that individuals will engage in future, but also the likelihood of their friends and families doing so. The experience of victims and witnesses is therefore central to the creation of an inclusive and participatory criminal justice system. This project aims to strengthen public participation and trust in criminal justice agencies by developing transferrable research-based service delivery systems that better meet the needs of victims and witnesses. Read moreRead less
Extraction of Electronic Evidence from Telephone Conversations Carried by the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The national benefits of this project are that it meets the National Priority of Safeguarding Australia and the results of this project can serve as a major input into a current Australian Government and Defence initiatives in electronic evidence and intelligence collection. It will play a significant part in satisfying the Australian community that steps are being taken to develop ....Extraction of Electronic Evidence from Telephone Conversations Carried by the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The national benefits of this project are that it meets the National Priority of Safeguarding Australia and the results of this project can serve as a major input into a current Australian Government and Defence initiatives in electronic evidence and intelligence collection. It will play a significant part in satisfying the Australian community that steps are being taken to develop techniques for monitoring the criminal use of the Internet for communication and transfer of information. It will serve to develop niche Australian research expertise in this very specialized international field.Read moreRead less
Establishing Guidelines for Coronial Best Practice Use of Internal Autopsy. Last year in Queensland 2700 Coronial internal autopsies were conducted at a cost of $5.3 million. In addition to the economic cost, other relevant concerns include few qualified personnel, public health risks, and cultural and religious sensitivities associated with internal autopsy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for a number of these deaths, the internal autopsy was not necessary to establish cause or circumstance ....Establishing Guidelines for Coronial Best Practice Use of Internal Autopsy. Last year in Queensland 2700 Coronial internal autopsies were conducted at a cost of $5.3 million. In addition to the economic cost, other relevant concerns include few qualified personnel, public health risks, and cultural and religious sensitivities associated with internal autopsy. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for a number of these deaths, the internal autopsy was not necessary to establish cause or circumstance of death. The purpose of this research is to create guidelines to enable coroners to weight all sources of evidence before ordering internal autopsies The purpose is to decrease the number (and associated costs, risks and distress to families) of unnecessary internal autopsies being performed without compromising the finding as to cause and circumstance of death.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Costing Offending Trajectories: Creating an Evidence-Base for Targeting Crime Prevention. The research will provide an evidence-base for targeting diversionary and crime prevention programs and for assessing their cost-effectiveness. Many of these programs have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes and they are receiving increased government funding. By providing a better understanding of offending pathways, the research will enable programs to be targeted towards particul ....Understanding and Costing Offending Trajectories: Creating an Evidence-Base for Targeting Crime Prevention. The research will provide an evidence-base for targeting diversionary and crime prevention programs and for assessing their cost-effectiveness. Many of these programs have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes and they are receiving increased government funding. By providing a better understanding of offending pathways, the research will enable programs to be targeted towards particular at-risk groups at crucial developmental phases. The innovative longitudinal costing method that will be developed and applied in the Queensland context will enable an assessment of the cost-effectiveness of diversionary and crime prevention programs. This will provide a sound empirical basis for directing scarce government resources.Read moreRead less
The Effectiveness of Forensic Science in the Criminal Justice System. Policing plays a major role in combating crime in the community, reassuring and assisting persons affected by crime so that they can continue, or return, to enjoying their lives. Forensic science is increasingly relied upon by law enforcement to solve crime, and by the judicial system to prosecute offenders. However, the value and impact of forensic science has yet to be established. Through a comprehensive examination of fore ....The Effectiveness of Forensic Science in the Criminal Justice System. Policing plays a major role in combating crime in the community, reassuring and assisting persons affected by crime so that they can continue, or return, to enjoying their lives. Forensic science is increasingly relied upon by law enforcement to solve crime, and by the judicial system to prosecute offenders. However, the value and impact of forensic science has yet to be established. Through a comprehensive examination of forensic science usage in the criminal justice system in Victoria and ACT, this research will develop an evidence-based best-practice model for using forensic science efficiently and effectively. This will benefit the Australian community through the achievement of better and more cost effective criminal justice outcomes. Read moreRead less
Police Leadership in the 21st Century: Redesigning Roles and Practices. Leaders are seen as exemplifying and guiding the climate of police organisations. This project will deliver comprehensive, comparative, and internationally relevant empirical data on the relationship between leaders' approach and behaviours and the achievement of outcomes in these significant, high profile public sector organisations. On this foundation the project will make recommendations on innovative institutional desi ....Police Leadership in the 21st Century: Redesigning Roles and Practices. Leaders are seen as exemplifying and guiding the climate of police organisations. This project will deliver comprehensive, comparative, and internationally relevant empirical data on the relationship between leaders' approach and behaviours and the achievement of outcomes in these significant, high profile public sector organisations. On this foundation the project will make recommendations on innovative institutional design to achieve ethical, effective and efficient policing capable of withstanding the challenges of the future. This will increase public confidence in policing, resulting in safer communities and improved crime control. This proposal contributes to the ARC research priority of Safeguarding Australia.Read moreRead less
Managing family objection to autopsy: a case study of the Queensland coronial system. Exploring how coroners, police, counsellors, and pathologists engage with families after the shock of a sudden or violent death, and the resulting development of an e-resource, enables a consistent and transparent whole system approach to be established. The expected benefits for the Coronial system will include: a decrease in unnecessary autopsies, a flow on to minimising staffing shortages, and an overall de ....Managing family objection to autopsy: a case study of the Queensland coronial system. Exploring how coroners, police, counsellors, and pathologists engage with families after the shock of a sudden or violent death, and the resulting development of an e-resource, enables a consistent and transparent whole system approach to be established. The expected benefits for the Coronial system will include: a decrease in unnecessary autopsies, a flow on to minimising staffing shortages, and an overall decrease in the cost of a death investigation. The benefits to the community will include: enhanced police relations with families, including those from minority religions and cultures, more informed and appropriate decision making by coroners, less invasive autopsies by pathologists, and more focused intervention by counsellors.Read moreRead less
Counter-terrorism policing for culturally diverse communities. Counter-terrorism policing will be investigated by focusing on the impact of counter terrorism measures on the police, community, media and legislative/policy framework. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to the first ever examination of how counter terrorism is changing both the policing function and linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It will produce a counter-terrorism policing model that challenges traditiona ....Counter-terrorism policing for culturally diverse communities. Counter-terrorism policing will be investigated by focusing on the impact of counter terrorism measures on the police, community, media and legislative/policy framework. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to the first ever examination of how counter terrorism is changing both the policing function and linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It will produce a counter-terrorism policing model that challenges traditional paramilitary responses to terrorism that centrally locates diverse communities/policing relationships at the heart of the counter-terrorism policing effort. With cross jurisdictional application, the qualitative and quantitative data, will inform a broad scholarship with wide ranging policy implications at both the state and federal level.Read moreRead less